No, I swear, it is
June 3, 2016 6:03 PM Subscribe
Gay or not Tails is a child and in the games pretty much every character is asexual or at least it never comes up. Now that I think about it, Knuckles is kind of gender neutral but I might be mis-remembering that.
posted by VTX at 7:04 PM on June 3, 2016
posted by VTX at 7:04 PM on June 3, 2016
It comes up in Sonic CD- a pink lady hedgehog makes smoochy faces at Sonic, floating hearts etc, which he ignores, and then she's kidnapped.
So some sort of romantic interest between hedgehogs is canon to the games.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:14 PM on June 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
So some sort of romantic interest between hedgehogs is canon to the games.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:14 PM on June 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
Tails has always, for some reason, reminded me of Depeche Mode's Martin Gore (also long-rumored to be gay, but no, just an unashamedly flamboyant man with a flair for fashion and a refreshingly IDGAF attitude to gender norms).
posted by duffell at 7:26 PM on June 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by duffell at 7:26 PM on June 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Former owner of alt.fan.sonic-hedgehog here, sexualization has been a part of Sonic from early on, starting in Sonic CD And carrying on in various media including an update to Amy Rose in Sonic Adventure, and culminating with Sonic kissing a human girl
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:47 PM on June 3, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:47 PM on June 3, 2016 [9 favorites]
Links for the things I was going to put in that comment and didn't because I'm inept:
Sonic and Sally kissing
Amy Rose's Updated Design
History of Sonic crossdressing
Sonic kisses a human girl
The important thing to note is this is all official Sonic material.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:57 PM on June 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sonic and Sally kissing
Amy Rose's Updated Design
History of Sonic crossdressing
Sonic kisses a human girl
The important thing to note is this is all official Sonic material.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:57 PM on June 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
>culminating with Sonic kissing a human girl
They TOLD us this would happen if we let gay people get married. But we didn't listen.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 9:30 PM on June 3, 2016 [22 favorites]
They TOLD us this would happen if we let gay people get married. But we didn't listen.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 9:30 PM on June 3, 2016 [22 favorites]
I have no problem believing this is real because it wouldn't even come close to being the weirdest thing that's come out of the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom (and by extension the furry fandom) by a long shot.
I know I shouldn't point and laugh but people deeply caring about the imagined sexual preferences of anthropomorphized cartoon animals is just funny to me.
posted by Soi-hah at 6:34 AM on June 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I know I shouldn't point and laugh but people deeply caring about the imagined sexual preferences of anthropomorphized cartoon animals is just funny to me.
posted by Soi-hah at 6:34 AM on June 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
>people deeply caring about the imagined sexual preferences of anthropomorphized cartoon animals is just funny to me.
Heh. This reminds of the story about Sesame Street Workshop CEO Gary Knell, who, asked whether it was true that Bert and Ernie were gay, answered, "They are puppets."
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:05 AM on June 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Heh. This reminds of the story about Sesame Street Workshop CEO Gary Knell, who, asked whether it was true that Bert and Ernie were gay, answered, "They are puppets."
posted by Sing Or Swim at 8:05 AM on June 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Puppets to their own depraved sexual urges, more like.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:17 AM on June 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:17 AM on June 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
What's really frustrating about this is how Tails is evidently at least bisexual—his romance with Robotnik's simulacrum of one Fiona Fox is the earliest documentation of his sexual preferences, and, yes, while she turned out to be a machine, this was unmistakably an attraction towards women displayed before any other form of attraction even hinted its way into being. Sonic #28. Don't ask me why I have that issue number memorized.
posted by rorgy at 8:11 PM on June 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rorgy at 8:11 PM on June 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hey-ho, your friendly neighborhood game industry observing killjoy here--
Saying some material is "official" with Sonic the Hedgehog is not that conclusive. There is a sense, as with the Star Wars Extended Universe, of there being tiered levels of continuity. There is Sega official, there's two entirely separate cartoon shows, and there's the Archie comics series. (I think there's another comic series too? It's on the outer edges of my awareness though, if it exists.) The thing is, Sega more or less gave free reign to all those different licenses to do whatever they wanted.
But even with the "core continuity" itself, there are major issues. Early promotional materials implied that Sonic lived on a planet called Mobius, which has been pretty much directly contradicted by everything from Sonic Adventure on. Yet Sonic Adventure 2 has a recreation of the original game's Green Hill Zone as a secret level! And then Sega tried to "reboot" Sonic the Hedgehog with that disastrous 2006 game, the one where he kissed a human girl. Then there are those two Wii games, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, which are pretty much separate continuities. And Sonic CD was a kind of weird offshoot, where the game world seemed to be subtly different from Sonic 2/3/Knuckles. AND there is still the question of the Game Gear and Master System games, which are their own unique things.
Of course, all of this is a problem only if you insist that there has to be a continuity at all. Why should there be? Mario games have largely avoided this, partly by dint by laughing at the idea ("Oh, Peach has been kidnapped again!"), partly by outright ignoring it ("Doesn't Bowser have seven kids?" "Nope, just the one." "But why are they getting cameos in Mario Kart 8 and Smash 4?" "Shut up and pick up a controller.") and partly because, well, since Donkey Kong Nintendo has just used their characters wherever they've wanted and not bothered to explain it except in passing. (Mario's history is much more labyrinthine even than Sonic, as it turns out. I started charting it out thinking to include it in this comment, but it quickly grew to overwhelm the Sonic stuff!)
Anyway, back to the point. If people want to identify with Tails as something representative of themselves, more power to them. I'm starting to see video game mascot characters existing in a kind of fluid space where lots of people see different things in them (warning: loud music), and that's okay. I mean, it's sort of what the games themselves suggest, isn't it, when they ask you to play as them? It's not my kind of thing, but then, we are all mired in the past in one way or other. I wonder what kids will be doing in twenty years?
posted by JHarris at 4:13 AM on June 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Saying some material is "official" with Sonic the Hedgehog is not that conclusive. There is a sense, as with the Star Wars Extended Universe, of there being tiered levels of continuity. There is Sega official, there's two entirely separate cartoon shows, and there's the Archie comics series. (I think there's another comic series too? It's on the outer edges of my awareness though, if it exists.) The thing is, Sega more or less gave free reign to all those different licenses to do whatever they wanted.
But even with the "core continuity" itself, there are major issues. Early promotional materials implied that Sonic lived on a planet called Mobius, which has been pretty much directly contradicted by everything from Sonic Adventure on. Yet Sonic Adventure 2 has a recreation of the original game's Green Hill Zone as a secret level! And then Sega tried to "reboot" Sonic the Hedgehog with that disastrous 2006 game, the one where he kissed a human girl. Then there are those two Wii games, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight, which are pretty much separate continuities. And Sonic CD was a kind of weird offshoot, where the game world seemed to be subtly different from Sonic 2/3/Knuckles. AND there is still the question of the Game Gear and Master System games, which are their own unique things.
Of course, all of this is a problem only if you insist that there has to be a continuity at all. Why should there be? Mario games have largely avoided this, partly by dint by laughing at the idea ("Oh, Peach has been kidnapped again!"), partly by outright ignoring it ("Doesn't Bowser have seven kids?" "Nope, just the one." "But why are they getting cameos in Mario Kart 8 and Smash 4?" "Shut up and pick up a controller.") and partly because, well, since Donkey Kong Nintendo has just used their characters wherever they've wanted and not bothered to explain it except in passing. (Mario's history is much more labyrinthine even than Sonic, as it turns out. I started charting it out thinking to include it in this comment, but it quickly grew to overwhelm the Sonic stuff!)
Anyway, back to the point. If people want to identify with Tails as something representative of themselves, more power to them. I'm starting to see video game mascot characters existing in a kind of fluid space where lots of people see different things in them (warning: loud music), and that's okay. I mean, it's sort of what the games themselves suggest, isn't it, when they ask you to play as them? It's not my kind of thing, but then, we are all mired in the past in one way or other. I wonder what kids will be doing in twenty years?
posted by JHarris at 4:13 AM on June 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: Romantic interest between hedgehogs is canon.
posted by quinndexter at 5:52 AM on June 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by quinndexter at 5:52 AM on June 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
The Sonic fandom is one of those things that runs in some very strange, very deep, ways. Gazing at the abyss and all that.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 12:40 PM on June 5, 2016
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 12:40 PM on June 5, 2016
...eventually falling over itself, tumbling towards leaps and loops of logic that might ring true but could encapsulate the fandom in a protective bubble, then all too soon propelled into the final zone of conflict.
posted by Molesome at 4:04 AM on June 6, 2016
posted by Molesome at 4:04 AM on June 6, 2016
Gazing at the abyss and all that.
GIVE HIM THE TICKLES
posted by FatherDagon at 9:40 AM on June 6, 2016
GIVE HIM THE TICKLES
posted by FatherDagon at 9:40 AM on June 6, 2016
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